California flame retardant development, and its context

Though obscure, fire-safety rules in California have a huge impact on consumers everywhere in the country because they influence how manufacturers make furniture sold in all states.

Under a current California rule, known as Technical Bulletin 117, foam cushioning must withstand a candle-like flame for 12 seconds, a standard that many manufacturers meet by adding flame retardants to products sold across the country. But if that rule is changed as proposed, fire-safety standards can be met without using flame retardants, which have been linked to cancer, developmental problems and impaired fertility.

Later, environment reporter Michael Hawthorne joined the reporting team. That team, working with me and watchdog editor Kaarin Tisue, produced a four-part series that was published in May 2012, with two major follow-up investigations in December (read it all at chicagotribune.com/flames).

The series exposed how the chemical and tobacco industries waged a deceptive, decades-long campaign to promote the use of flame-retardant furniture and downplay the hazards. Companies did this even though research shows that the chemicals don’t slow fires and are migrating into the bodies of adults and children.

To come to these findings, reporters needed to examine thousands of documents from several states, travel to California and Washington D.C. and get a key study translated from Swedish so we could examine what it really said.